The human body is 18% carbon so let me give everyone a quick fifth-grade science lesson. Net carbon zero means humans no longer exist. The best example yet is we are told carbon dioxide must be entombed because in the atmosphere it is leading us to a climate crisis when we burn fossil fuel.
Yet we are told that carbon capture is essential to preserving the health of the planet while proponents try to convince us that captured carbon is the greatest commodity in generating jet fuel or in use for enhanced oil recovery. Carbon dioxide release from burning petroleum is the problem.
Last week I spent four hours in a coal field in North Dakota. While it was not my first visit to a coal plant, I must tell you the fever has changed in the past two years. The local electric cooperative uses wind derived power as a priority at a cost of $0 per kw hour because the government pays a subsidy to the wind developer to generate electricity. The coal plant supplies electricity when the wind is not blowing. On the week I visited, there were three consecutive days that no coal was going to the power plant. How long could any business survive in that scenario?
We don’t need to wonder what will happen because it is happening right now in Texas. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is currently struggling to provide enough power to customers. In fact, in August ERCOT paid a BitCoin mining operation $31.7 million to use less electricity during a heat wave. In September, they started talking about the need to bring a coal-fired power plant back online. Recently there were meetings and news stories were printed. The following is from NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth:
“ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told the organization’s board the Public Utilities Commission they have sent out a request to purchase enough back-up power for 600,000 homes an hour (3,000 megawatts per hour). They hope to have this deal completed by December when winter cold brings power complications.
In short, the amount of power generated in Texas is not keeping up with the state’s population and industrial growth, per Vegas.
‘To build a power plant, you start the concept today and in two to four to five years depending on the type of power plant you’ll have something come online,’ he said.”
In 2021, I conducted an interview with Mike Nasi from Texas who told me that energy experts had warned the state of Texas that anyone who relies on wind and solar for more than 20% of their energy will experience black outs. In 2023, 38% of the energy in Texas comes from wind or solar generation. Should we be surprised that they are currently in panic mode? Unfortunately, Texas is not alone in this.
I used to be on the fence about people choosing to get a subsidy to allow wind towers or solar panels on their property. I originally thought it was a matter of property rights. My concern is what you do on your property can affect my property, my health and my livelihood. To make matters even worse, you are taking money from the taxpayers of this country, now and far into future generations, to help create this boondoggle.
As I have become a better student of factual history, I learned that in the 1920s the Bolsheviks in Russia voted themselves into servitude. While I am not wired to voluntarily go into servitude, that is exactly what we are doing. Subsidies received for short-term gain without consideration can cause long-term pain. I hope the light of truth flips on quickly before we are forced into the dark for good.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
